Daedal Lives
by Aryanne
Summary: ...ON HOLD... There are now so many major changes that you'll just have to start again at chapter one.
1. First Prelude

**Disclaimer -I don't own Rurouni Kenshin.**

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**Daedal Lives**

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**(def) daedel  
1.Ingenious and complex in design or function; intricate.  
2. Finely or skillfully made or employed; artistic.**

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**_1 -- First Prelude_**

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"I'd never tell her, but I think it's the best possible choice she could've made."

Kaoru paused at the sound of her father's voice from beyond the open doorway.

"Neither of you need to be alone right now," her father continued.

Kaoru bit her lip. For a second her mother's death seemed fresh all over again. She reminded herself that it had happened almost two years ago. Her father wasn't devastated any more. He was putting his family first again.

"What about you, Dad?" her younger brother, Yahiko, asked. Three years Kaoru's junior, her mother's youngest child had been hit the hardest initially. Of all the members of her mother's immediate family, only Yahiko had been able to grieve at first. Kaoru hadn't been able to react until hours afterward, a trait she'd inherited from her father. She'd envied Yahiko his ability to grieve when she hadn't been able to. But Lynn's death hadn't been a surprise for any of them.

"I've got the family to help me out," her father continued, "Your aunts and uncles wouldn't leave me alone if I wanted them to. It's you and Kaoru that I'm worried about."

Yahiko snorted. "I can take care of myself."

That was just like Yahiko, scoffing and saying he was fine. But it was also true. He could take care of himself. Kaoru leaned sideways to listen, her shoulder against the wall.

Her father sighed. "I know you had other plans this year, so I'm thanking you for showing so much maturity about the new living arrangements. Just help your sister find her way around at first. You've been at that school two years already."

Kaoru held her breath. She'd thought Yahiko wanted her there. She'd thought he relied on her as much as she relied on him. Not that she would tell him that. Openly communicating their feelings wasn't how their relationship worked.

"I don't care about the apartment, Dad," Yahiko broke in quietly. "I want Kaoru there."

Neither her father nor her brother spoke again. Kaoru let out the breath she'd been holding.

---

---

"What is it?" Seijuro Hiko barked.

Kenshin's aunt placed a reassuring hand on her husband's arm. Their son, Soujiro, glanced at his watch.

"I'm moving out," Kenshin said simply. "Aunt Tae, you'll be able to use my room for your studio."

"But why?" His aunt rose from her seat and bustled around the table to where Kenshin sat. She gave him one of her huge hugs. "You're going to college on the north side now. You can live here and save your money, just like last year."

Kenshin hugged his aunt back, but shook his head when she pulled away. His uncle watched him silently. Soujiro frowned, but said nothing.

"I've reviewed my budget over the past couple weeks," Kenshin explained. "I can afford it as long as I've got someone to split the rent with and a job."

"You've always got a job at the Akabeko, idiot," his uncle said, taking a sip from his sake glass.

Tae nodded. "Always, Kenshin." The Akabeko was a traditional Japanese restaurant owned and operated by Seijuro Hiko and his wife, although it was Tae who really ran it. After Kenshin had graduated from a university in California two years ago, he'd come back to the east coast and worked as a chef in the Akabeko, just as he had throughout high school and over the summers. It had given him time to figure out what he wanted to do with his life. A year later, he'd decided to apply for grad school at one of the local colleges.

"Thanks," Kenshin said to his aunt and uncle.

"Do you have an apartment yet?" Soujiro asked, speaking for the first time.

As Tae sank into the chair next to him, Kenshin directed his attention to his cousin. "Yahiko's looking for a roommate."

"Who the heck is Yahiko?" Hiko asked.

"He's alright," Soujiro said.

"Again," Hiko said, "who is he?"

"He's going to be, what, a junior at Kenshin's school next year?" Tae said, looking to Kenshin for confirmation.

He nodded. "His sister's starting a grad program, so he's moving out of university housing to live with her."

Hiko shrugged. "Do what you want, Kenshin." He stood from the table. "But your shift in the kitchen starts in ten minutes. Soujiro-"

"I took off tonight, Dad."

"Oh, the girlfriend thing," Hiko said with a roll of his eyes. "For a second there I almost forgot Friday night hell was imminent." His uncle claimed that he liked a quiet and calm restaurant, which was the farthest from Friday night as it got. But they all knew Hiko would be on top of everything once the restaurant filled.

"I won't bring her here then," Soujiro said, glancing at his watch again and standing as well.

"Soujiro, I want you to bring her here soon," Tae said. "You've been dating the same girl for three months and your father and I haven't met her yet."

"Mom, I'm going to be late to pick her up," Soujiro said, heading for the door, "Can we talk about this later?"

Tae sighed, Soujiro grinned, and then he was gone. Hiko offered his wife his arm. "The damn kid's spoiled, Tae. You shouldn't have babied him for so long."

Tae smiled and accepted her husband arm. "Don't be late, Kenny," she said.

Kenshin half smiled. She only called him Kenny when she was wishing he was ten again. "I won't."

Tae smiled back at him and Hiko rolled his eyes. Then they were gone too. Kenshin relaxed slightly against his chair. Kenshin didn't want to be here the day Soujiro said he was moving out.


	2. Second Prelude

**Disclaimer -I don't own Rurouni Kenshin.**

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**_2 -- Second Prelude_**

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"Don't we have somewhere to be right now?" Yahiko asked, annoyed, as he picked up his car keys from where they'd lain on the couch.

"As a matter of fact, we do," Kaoru said with a sniff. "But we don't need to leave for a few minutes," which was why she was sitting on the couch watching television in heels and a dress, thoroughly made-up. Of course she hadn't forgotten. Did he think she'd dressed up for fun?

Her brother snorted, spiky black hair waving slightly in the air with the motion. Sometimes he reminded her of Sonic the Hedgehog, minus the blue color and all. "What're you wearing?" Yahiko asked doubtfully. "We're only going to meet Kenshin."

"We're meeting him at a party for people from the school," Kaoru reminded him, picking an invisible piece of lint off her dress. "I want to make a good first impression. Aren't you going to change?" she asked. He was sporting jeans and a t-shirt.

"I'm wearing what I've got on," her brother said, irritated. "Now come on, I'm driving."

Kaoru stood from the couch and wobbled for a second in her heels. "I'm older. I should drive." Yahiko had had his license for almost three years now, but his driving scared her a little, mostly because she could remember him back when he wore diapers.

"You don't know where we're going," Yahiko reminded her, "and I'm the one currently holding the keys to our one and only car. The Akabeko's in Federal Hill. I bet you don't even know where we are right now."

Kaoru rolled her eyes. "Charles Village. Just don't get in an accident or break any major traffic laws."

"Excuse me, but which one of us has points on their driver's license?" Yahiko retorted, walking towards the door. "Forgot about that, didn't you?"

Kaoru narrowed her eyes at his retreating back, but followed him. He wasn't going to let her forget that tiny little speeding incident any time soon. Really, forty miles an hour over the speed limit wasn't that big a deal.

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"Dad thought you were still in the kitchen," Soujiro said, meeting Kenshin as he was headed down the stairs to the restaurant. The Hiko family lived above the restaurant on half of the second floor. The other half was taken up by the restaurant's offices.

"Do I still smell like tempura?" Kenshin asked he drew level with Soujiro.

His cousin sniffed the air around him. "No. Stop using my soap. I'm going to Mom's office. Call me if Yahiko's sister is hot," Soujiro said, continuing up the stairs.

"I'm telling him you said that."

"You suck," Soujiro said casually and disappeared up the stairs.

Kenshin jogged down to the door at the bottom of the stairs, stopping for a moment to pray for a few non-annoying fellow students. He'd be forced to spend time in lab with every one of the people in his major before the school year was over. Last year, not one person had made his cut. They were nice enough – most of them – but they nicely drove him crazy, nicely annoyed him, or nicely just couldn't shut up or, worst of all, they nicely possessed no common sense.

Kenshin crossed his fingers and pushed open the door. The main room of the Akabeko had been specially rented by the university tonight, and it was already full of students, professors, administrators, and their spouses. Tables were scattered across the floor, but most people stood in small groups or hung close to one of the two mini bars that had been set up for the night. Tae had decorated for hours. Thankfully, she hadn't made him help out.

Kenshin spotted Yahiko immediately because he was the only person whose hair stuck straight out around his head. He was also taller than most people, and while he wasn't the only person wearing jeans, he was the only person wearing a t-shirt.

Yahiko motioned Kenshin over to where he stood alone near the small band the university had hired for the occasion. Kenshin avoided Brenda of the horrible and embarrassing date last year (not his fault) and made his way quickly through the crowd, nodding to a few people he knew.

"Hey, Kenshin," Yahiko said over the sound of the music.

"Good to see you again," Kenshin replied, shaking Yahiko's hand. He'd met Yahiko through Sano last year and they'd become friends, mostly because he wasn't annoying and they had some common interests. "You still looking for a roommate?"

Yahiko shrugged. "If you still want the room. And if you can deal with my sister."

Kenshin hoped to God she wasn't annoying. "What's her name again?"

"Kaoru," a female voice said from behind Yahiko. A young woman around Kenshin's age stepped around Yahiko, holding a drink in each hand. "Are you Kenshin?"

"Yeah. Nice to meet you." He watched as she handed one of the sweating drinks to Yahiko. Well, she didn't look annoying, but that wasn't one of those traits you could tell from the outside. Every person has the capacity to annoy, and each way is unique.

"I'd shake your hand, but both of mine are wet," Kaoru said apologetically. She wiped her free hand lightly on her dress. Well he'd have to call Soujiro in the office at some point tonight, because Kaoru was actually pretty attractive. No lust at first sight or anything, but that wasn't something he wanted in a roommate anyway, and especially not in his friend's sister. She filled out her dress nicely and had dark hair pulled back from her face and blue eyes utterly different from Yahiko's. The two siblings barely looked related.

"It's alright," Kenshin said. Her wet hand left a faint print on the fabric of her dress.

Yahiko stepped away. "I'm going to go say hi to a few people. You can tell me what's happening with the apartment when I get back."

Kenshin nodded. Yahiko was letting them judge each other without getting in the way. It was best that way. Quicker. He turned to Kaoru. Yahiko's sister looked as if she'd like to protest, but in the end she only shrugged and let her brother walk away. Kenshin gestured to a table a few feet away. "Want to sit over there?"

"Sure."

He let her take the lead and studied her from behind. Her hair was unusually long. Most girls kept it short. She'd clipped it back with a piece of metal, or whatever women called it, at the base of her neck. She carried herself confidently and ignored a couple heads that turned in her direction.

The large round tables scattered around the room sat twelve. About seven or eight people were seated at this particular table, talking or sipping drinks. Kenshin recognized a professor he'd had last semester leaning in too close to a woman too young to be his wife. Kaoru sat down three chairs away from the couple, and Kenshin sat next to her.

She said something he couldn't hear because of the music and the crowd noise.

"What?"

Her lips formed something, probably "Say that again" and they both moved their chairs closer together.

"I said, do you like playing loud music?" Kaoru asked shooting a glance toward the band with a smile. She took a sip of her drink. On her right hand, she wore a thin gold ring with some type of design carved into it. The ring looked slightly too small for her finger.

"Of course," Kenshin replied, "but I was trained from a young age to do it on my headphones."

"Good answer." She smiled at him and that wasn't annoying, which was a relief because some people had annoying smiles. Very unfortunate for them. Kenshin remembered Brenda of the horrible and embarrassing date's smile and tried not to cringe.

---

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"Hey, Yahiko, is this your girlfriend?" a tall guy asked, walking towards where Kaoru stood next to Yahiko. She instinctively took at step away from her brother, which was ridiculous. Why should she care what a stranger thought? Still, did other people think she was dating her brother?

"Hell no!" Yahiko said, his hands fisting at his sides. "She's my sister!" Kaoru glanced at her brother and almost laughed at how horrified he looked, but she was too unsettled herself.

"Chill, kid," the guy said, his tone easy and unembarrassed at the mistake he'd made. Kaoru fumed internally. He should be embarrassed, so embarrassed he should be peeing in his pants from shame right about now.

"I'm Sano. You must be Kaoru."

"Hello." Kaoru frowned slightly. She'd heard his name before. "You were Yahiko's mentor when he was a freshman, weren't you?" That had been right after their mother died.

Sano nodded and raised an eyebrow at Yahiko. "So do you appreciate me enough to mention me to your family," he drawled. "I'm touched."

"You're not allowed here," Yahiko said rudely, although Kaoru knew for a fact that he both admired and respected Sano. "This is a party for students. You graduated."

Sano shrugged. "Kenshin let me in the back way. I should've been invited anyway." Kaoru looked up with even more interest at this tall man whose brown hair had way more body than hers ever would. Did he use conditioner? Mousse?

Yahiko snorted and muttered something she couldn't hear.

Sano ignored him and spoke to Kaoru. "I'm the new assistant coach for our basketball team. We're getting the NCAA title this year."

Yahiko tried to laugh but instead choked on his drink and went into a coughing fit.

Kaoru decided to take a tip from Sano and ignored her brother. "Good luck."

"Thanks, Missy," Sano said. His tone held a smugness she knew was directed at Yahiko. Abruptly, Kaoru realized she liked Sano. She'd known him for two minutes, so it probably had more to do with the fact that Yahiko had been talking about him for two years, but that didn't change the truth.

"What's wrong with Yahiko?" Kenshin asked, passing by her and noticing Yahiko's coughing fit. Kaoru hadn't felt the same instant appreciation for Kenshin, but he wasn't quite as comfortable in his surroundings as Sano. There was something restless in his personality.

"The kid did it to himself," Sano said. Yahiko glared at him.

"Oh." Kenshin shrugged and ignored Yahiko too. Maybe this apartment thing was going to work out. Then he spotted someone behind Sano and backed away from the group. "I just remembered, I've got to go grab my cousin really quick. He's probably still upstairs."

"Bring him down," Yahiko said, finally over his cough. "He should meet Kaoru."

"Sure thing," Kenshin said, and disappeared.

Kaoru noticed that Sano frowned for a moment, but then he smirked when one of the waitresses who were walking around with trays of food popped up next to them.

"Hey, Meg. I didn't know you were working tonight, thought it was your day off."

She tossed her hair gracefully, a motion Kaoru had never actually mastered, especially not while holding a tray of food. "I'm being paid time and a half, but I wouldn't have done it even for that if I'd known I have to serve you."

"And yet you dropped by to say hi," Sano said, although if Kaoru knew that the waitress had been trying to catch Kenshin, she knew Sano knew as well.

"To say hi to Yahiko," she shot back, flashing Kaoru's brother a smile.

Yahiko grinned back and waved a little, obviously enjoying the fact that someone else was taking on Sano and winning. "This is my sister, Kaoru." The waitress turned and met her eyes with a smile. "She's starting the grad program this fall," Yahiko continued. "Kaoru, this is Megumi Takani."

Kaoru reached out and they exchanged a brief handshake. "It's good to meet you, Megumi," Kaoru said.

"Please, call me Meg."

"Meg's technically a med student at one of those colleges downtown," Sano said, throwing an arm around her shoulder. "But she's starting her residency at Maryland General in a couple weeks. It's right near MLK Boulevard and West Madison."

Megumi noticed Kaoru's confused look and laughed as she shrugged Sano's arm off her shoulder. "It's north of us, in Mount Vernon."

"Oh," Kaoru managed, confused.

Sano laughed. "I'm going to have to take you around town, Missy. You should come too, Meg, in case I forget anything."

"Which would probably happen even if I was there," Megumi said lightly. "But I'd be more than willing. You've got my number. Call me when you've set a date. And now I must get back to my job."

With that she flitted off through the crowd in the direction Kenshin had taken.

---

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"So on Halloween all the college kids dress up, come down here and get drunk," Sano said as they cruised through Fells Point. "Everyone knows they're going to do it, so the school has free shuttles to get them there and back."

Kaoru nodded as she gazed out the passenger side window and caught a glimpse of the harbor through an alley. "That sign just said live rock music!" She sighed. "I really am a small town girl."

Sano shook his head and made a left turn towards the harbor. "You should check out a couple blues sets at Bertha's. I came down here with Megumi and a few friends for the first time last year and didn't want to leave."

Kaoru glanced over to see an un-Sano-like look on his face, almost wistful. "Is that because there's a pub every half a block?"

He smirked and the expression vanished. "Maybe. Now we're in Little Italy. Kenshin and I are taking you to Vaccaro's for your birthday."

"My birthday isn't until June, but what's Vaccaro's?"

"We'll have to go earlier then. It's a restaurant that serves only Italian desserts. Two years ago they had their fiftieth anniversary and they sold desserts for fifty cents. It was heaven."

"I bet," Kaoru said, trying to take in as much of Little Italy as she could. "The street smells like pasta sauce."

Sano took a deep breath. "I know. Some days all I want is an Italian woman to cook for me. My cousin's wife is Italian and she makes her own noodles. I love her."

Kaoru laughed. "And here I thought you had a thing for a certain Japanese waitress."

Sano shook his head. "Not after she ditched us today, besides, she's hung up on Kenshin. I should never have introduced them. Inner harbor." He pointed to the left.

"How'd you meet anyway?"

"Meg and me?"

Kaoru nodded and looked past Sano to see the giant ESPN center and the Baltimore aquarium.

"At a hospital where Meg was doing a four week internship. I punched some guy and broke a bone in my hand. That was before she got into med school. She was in between jobs, so I introduced her to Tae. I've known Kenshin and his family since I was a kid." Sano braked for a traffic light. "And the thing is, Kenshin doesn't care about Megumi, not like that, so I can't even tell him to back off. It's all her being stupid."

"She's gotta give up sometime," Kaoru reflected.

"Until then, not a word of this gets back to her, or to Kenshin, or to anyone, or I'll feed you to Soujiro."

Kaoru laughed as Sano made a right turn up Saint Paul Street. "Soujiro?"

Sano nodded. "He's a little psychopath. You'll see. I don't know how he holds down a girlfriend."


	3. Break Up or Crack Down

**Disclaimer -I don't own Rurouni Kenshin.****  
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**_3 -- Break Up or Crack Down_**

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Three months later, Kaoru shrugged into her coat and headed for the apartment door. She did a check for her keys and cell phone, which were just where they were supposed to be, and zipped up her blue coat. It was so huge the Yahiko had told her she looked like a jumbo-sized blue marshmallow, but Baltimore was in the middle of a cold snap and she wasn't going outside in five degrees without it.

"Excuse me, but what do you think you're doing?"

Kaoru paused mid-step. That was a voice she recognized all too well: Megumi. Her voice had echoed through the hallway. She was only a few feet away.

"I'm visiting my boyfriend," said an unfamiliar voice from directly outside the apartment door. "What do you think you're doing?"

"I'm merely visiting a very close, very personal friend," Megumi said. Kaoru could practically sense Megumi tossing her hair. "I thought he might need me to keep him warm today. It's so cold outside."

Kaoru quietly stood on her toes and looked through the peephole into the hallway. Two beautiful, angry women stood sizing each other up in front of her door. "Let's get this out in the open," the strange woman said. "I'm Tomoe Yukishira, and I'm taking Kenshin Himura out tonight."

Megumi raised an eyebrow. "Well I'm Megumi Takani, and I'm spending the night in with Ken Himura tonight. You must have the wrong Himura."

Kaoru winced and backed away quietly from the door. Kenshin was a walking dead man. If only he'd gone to the gym with Sano like he usually did Sunday afternoons. Kaoru debated warning him versus letting both women in and coming back after the explosions were over. Well, there was no reason to make an enemy of her roommate. She decided to warn him and unzipped her coat as she walked back down the hallway to his room.

"Kenshin?" she asked, knocking on his slightly open door.

"Come in. I thought you were leaving."

Kaoru pushed open the door and spotted him sitting on his bed in pajama bottoms and a sweatshirt, surrounded by papers. "I am, but I just thought I'd warn you. I heard Megumi's voice outside the door."

Annoyance passed over his features, leaving them neutral. "Thanks." He started to get up.

"And do you know anyone named Toe-something Yukishio?"

"Huh?" Kenshin looked vaguely alarmed, like he always did when Megumi started hitting on him. In Kaoru's opinion, she needed to give up. She didn't know what Kenshin had done to get her so attached, but as far as Kaoru (and Yahiko and Sano and Soujiro) knew, he didn't reciprocate her feelings.

"If you do," Kaoru continued, "she and Megumi are fighting right now."

All the color drained from Kenshin's face. He didn't speak for a full thirty seconds. "Maybe I can sneak out the window."

"We're on the tenth floor."

"I know."

Her suspicions were confirmed. Kenshin was a dead man. But he probably deserved it. He walked around as if he had no clue about how Sano felt about Megumi. Maybe this would force him to act. Besides, Kenshin was a little too composed for her taste. It would be fun to shake him up a little. Kaoru zipped up her coat again. "Should I let them in on my way out, or should I tell them you not here?"

Kenshin shook his head. "You don't lie very well." A thoughtful look stole over his face. He stood from his bed slowly, careful not to disturb the papers, and walked towards her.

"Kenshin?" He was starting to freak Kaoru out a little.

"How many people can fit in your coat?"

"Huh?" Kaoru glanced down at the coat. She hadn't thought it was that huge. She looked up and saw Kenshin standing a lot closer to her than before (how had he moved so fast?) with a look she didn't approve of in his eyes.

Five minutes later, she opened the door to the flushed faces of two scary women, not that she would admit that to either of them. Still she didn't know what they would do if they noticed Kenshin hiding in her coat with her. The hood of her coat hung low just above her eyes. It was bigger than she'd thought.

"Hi Meg!" she said with as much of her usual enthusiasm as she could muster. "I was just going out. Are you and your friend here to see Kenshin?"

Both women bristled at the word 'friend', but managed to give her frozen smiles. Kaoru prayed Megumi was too angry to notice the hundred plus pounds she'd gained.

"Why yes, Kaoru," Megumi said sweetly. "Is he home?"

"I've been studying in my room for a while, so I'm not sure," Kaoru said, which almost wasn't a lie. She wasn't at all sure if that annoyingly persuasive person named Kenshin was _really_ home in his brain. "You're welcome to go back to his room and check though."

"Thank you," Megumi said graciously, and walked past Kaoru into the apartment. The other woman followed and Kaoru edged out, conscious that Kenshin was doing his best to step with her movements.

"I'm sorry, but I'm in a huge rush, Meg," Kaoru said, which at least wasn't a lie. "Would you mind locking the door behind you if he's not here?"

"Sure hon," Megumi said with a poison sweet smile.

"Thanks. Bye," Kaoru said with a nod to both women and pulled the door shut in front of her.

"Lock it," Kenshin whispered. His arms tightened slightly around her waist. Warm breath wafted across her ear.

Kaoru already had the key in the lock. "I know what to do," she muttered, sliding the third lock into place. "I'm walking towards the elevator now."

With minimal difficulty, she turned and took a couple steps down the hallway, but Kenshin's feet hit her heels and they both almost went down. Luckily, the little kids from two doors down that usually hung out in the hallway weren't around.

"It'll be faster if I just pick you up," he said, voice still low.

"Fine, but I haven't dieted in months."

"And you've never needed to."

Kaoru gave him props for tact as he lifted her. He took a few experimental steps and Kaoru had to admit his idea worked well. It still unsettled her though, how personal this was. Her coat was going to smell like Kenshin after this. Her coat should smell like her, damnit.

"If someone comes into the hallway, I don't know how I'm going to explain this," she said. The hood started to fall off. She pulled it up again.

"You don't have to. It's none of their business."

"I won't be able to look them in the eye for a week."

"You should get over caring about what other people think."

"I'll blame you. Hey, stop," Kaoru hissed. Kenshin had just walked past the elevator. She'd forgotten he couldn't see well because of the hood.

"Sorry."

He backed up and she reached out and pressed the elevator's down button at the same time. "Is Sano even home?"

Kenshin sat her down. "No clue, but he gave me an extra key in case he ever gets locked out. Thanks for this, Kaoru. I owe you."

"Just never tell either of those women that this happened and we're even."

He laughed lightly and she could feel the vibration at her back. "If you don't, I won't."

"Deal."

The elevator opened. No one was in it. Kaoru let out a sigh of relief. After more fumbling instead of walking, they made it inside and Kaoru unzipped her coat and slid one arm out so Kenshin could step away. They were left in a slightly uneasy silence as Kenshin pressed the buttons for the fourth and ground floors.

"So you have a girlfriend?" Kaoru observed after a moment.

Kenshin shook his head. "No. I don't know why she's messing with Megumi's head."

"Meg will believe whatever you say," Kaoru pointed out. "She won't be upset with you for long."

Kenshin sighed and closed his eyes. "That's the problem."

He didn't say anything else, but that was fine. Kaoru had no wish to be caught in a power struggle between Kenshin, Megumi, and that other woman. She like Megumi and Kenshin equally well, but since she lived with Kenshin, she was on his side.

The elevator opened onto the fourth floor. Kaoru watched the doors open. No one waited in the hallway. She looked back at Kenshin to find him leveling an intense stare at her. She couldn't help starting a little in surprise, but then his gaze slid over her to the door and she wasn't sure if he'd been looking at her or through her.

"See you later," he said and moved out of the elevator.

"See you," Kaoru echoed as the doors shut behind him. If Kenshin had acted a little unusual, it was only because of the skirmish he'd just avoided. Meanwhile, she had bigger things to think about.

---

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Sano opened his apartment door wearing a vaguely confused frown. "I thought we weren't going to the gym today."

"Do I look like I'm going to the gym? I'm in trouble," Kenshin said, and brushed past his longtime friend into Sano's efficiency apartment.

Sano groaned and closed the door. "Oh shit. It's got nothing to do with last night, does it?"

"Just lock the door."

Sano grumbled something, but Kenshin heard the sound of the lock clicking shut. Sano, barefoot in jeans and slippers, moved into the small kitchen. Kenshin followed.

"Beer?"

"Yeah."

Sano tossed him one from the fridge and Kenshin took a long drink. Instantly, he felt a little better. The day was shot to hell, but hell wasn't all it was cracked up to be if he had a moment to stand here and drink a beer.

Sano, who'd been watching him the whole time, started snickering. "It's a woman. You always were afraid of girls."

"Even you'd be afraid of these two."

Sano raised an eyebrow and took a drink of his own beer. "I doubt it. Women tremble at my feet. You know that, Kenshin."

Sano had always been too cocky for his own good. Kenshin took another long swallow of beer. "Tomoe and Megumi were standing outside my door less than ten minutes ago."

The liquid in Sano's mouth went shooting out in front of him. Luckily, most of it landed in the kitchen sink. "They know each other?" he asked. "Combined, they're your worst nightmare. How are you standing in front of me right now?" He poked Kenshin, probably to be sure he wasn't hallucinating.

Kenshin pushed his hand away. "Kaoru," he said, and explained how he'd fled his apartment.

"I always said Missy was alright," Sano said appreciatively. "But there's no way she'd even rate as a witness if they'd gotten you." He snorted. "I can just see Meg knocking her into a wall when she tosses her hair or something."

"I can see Megumi knocking _me_ into a wall," Kenshin said glumly.

Sano nodded. "Yeah. I can see that too. What are you going to do about Tomoe though? You have to see her at least once while she's in town."

Kenshin shrugged. "I will. But not when Megumi's around."

"I think your best chance is to play innocent. Like a dog or something. There, but too dumb to do more than try to please everyone."

"Tomoe and Megumi run over dogs in their cars."

"Point taken."

There was silence as Kenshin contemplated the bitterness of reality and wished to God he had an identical twin. Or that it was safe to go up to his apartment. The whole reason he hadn't gone to the gym was because of a project he had to finish for tomorrow. Yet here he was, stuck in Sano's apartment until further notice, not finishing anything. At least he didn't have a shift at the Akabeko until Tuesday. Megumi might have cooled off by then.

---

---

Kaoru picked a paperback at random from the shelf and stared at the summary on the back. Okita was late. She'd left her office on campus early to meet him in the nearby bookstore and he was late. It probably didn't matter that she'd missed dinner. Kenshin had most likely been too scared to go back to the apartment and cook his customary Sunday night meal for her, Sano, and Yahiko, but damn it all, she was hungry, she had no money, and Okita certainly wasn't going to treat her. Kaoru replaced the paperback on the shelf again.

Her cell phone rang embarrassingly loud in the quiet bookstore, even though the phone was muffled in the depths of her coat. The customers closest to her – a tall young man wearing sunglasses and a middle-aged man who was rifling through a Dostoevsky novel – stared at her. The middle-aged man frowned. The phone rang on. She couldn't find the damn thing right away.

"Troubles, Miss Kamiya?" Okita asked from behind her.

Kaoru finally found the phone, turned, and pressed it to her ear, ignoring the man behind her. The _late_ man behind her. "Hello?"

"Hey, it's Soujiro."

Okita slid an unexpected arm around her waist, startling her. "Soujiro?" She pivoted in what was now the circle of his arms to face him. He was grinning at her.

"Kenshin's cousin? Yahiko's friend? Kaoru, I'm hurt."

"Oh, hi. Sorry, Soujiro. I'm a little distracted." She tried to glare Okita away, but his grin only widened.

"No problem," Soujiro said pleasantly. "Listen, Yahiko and I are going to be late coming back from the trip. Just calling to tell you not to worry, alright?"

"Sure. Thanks," Kaoru said, and hung up before he had a chance to say goodbye. She doubted Soujiro actually cared, but if he did she'd make it up to him later. Right now, she had bigger fish to fry. Or an axe to grind. One of those.

"You!" Kaoru said, turning down the phone's volume and shoving it in her jeans pocket. "You're late!" Someone two aisles over said a loud 'shhh'. The guy in the sunglasses frowned at her and walked away, headed in the direction of the magazine rack.

Okita ignored all these things and merely shrugged. "My partner and I had a big arrest. There was a lot of paperwork."

"You could've called," Kaoru said sulkily.

"I'm not that late, am I?"

Weren't police officers supposed to wear watches? Kaoru sent him another withering glare, but he only smiled and let her step back from him.

"So why did you want to meet in a bookstore?" Okita asked lightly.

"I had to pick up something down the street. The where isn't important."

His brown eyes, which had been idly scanning the book spines on the shelf just behind her, switched to her face. "So we're officially over then?"

Kaoru started. Okita was amazingly perceptive sometimes.

"You'll still be my date for the dinner, right?"

He was also amazingly confusing sometimes.

"You expected this?" she asked incredulously.

"We've never been serious," he pointed out. "We've never wanted the same things. And you're always irritated when you have to do something you don't like."

"So you're okay with it?" Kaoru asked. It was a little insulting to have him be perfectly fine with it. They'd both known it was just a fling the whole time, but she'd had to struggle with her decision before making it final.

"As long as you go to the dinner with me," Okita said patiently.

Kaoru was relieved. "Sure."

"And let me show you off."

"I've got no problems with that." She'd never see those people again anyway. Unless she got arrested, but she wasn't planning on that.

"Then let me drive you home."

She let him. And when he'd pulled up in front of her building, she didn't open the door right away, but looked at him. The light from the apartment's lobby shone on his face.

"I'll pick you up at seven the Saturday after next, alright?"

"Okay." Her voice sounded small, unsure. When she got out of the car it would be final.

Okita reached out and touched her face once and she knew he was a little shy of perfectly fine with it after all. Yes. It was better that they both end it now.

"Goodnight," he said, and she got out of the car.


	4. The Last of Her Ticket

**Disclaimer - I don't own Rurouni Kenshin.**

**---**

**_4 -- The Last of Her Ticket_**

**---**

**---**

Thanks to some clever engineering of work schedules on the part of Soujiro, Kenshin didn't have to face Megumi at work on Wednesday after all, and due to some miracle on the part of God, Tomoe never called Kenshin. It was safe to assume she was out of town again. And because of the whole coat-escape thing, he now had sort of a thing for Kaoru.

It was stupid, but Monday morning, the day after the coat-escapade, he'd woken up after three hours of sleep (he'd spent nine hours starting and finishing his project), stumbled into the bathroom, stumbled out again, and seen Kaoru stumbling out of her room. And he'd known then that she was beautiful.

See? It really was a stupid thing, a sudden thing. At the time he'd dismissed it as temporary delirium (he'd gotten five hours of sleep the night before that and the night before that), but even after he'd slept for ten hours it hadn't gone away. And now, two weeks and two days later, it still hadn't gone away. Yahiko would kill him. Hell, Megumi would kill him twice over.

"Kenshin," his cousin Soujiro said, striding into the Akabeko kitchens. "A certain waitress in the break room just came in for her shift. Dad says you can go on break to talk to her."

The other chefs (and a few waitresses) studiously ignored Kenshin. Everyone knew about the tension between him and Megumi. Personally, Kenshin wasn't in the mood to deal with her. He'd avoided being alone with her for the past two weeks. But, he reflected, it wasn't as if he was ever going to be in a mood to deal with her.

"Where is she?" Kenshin asked with a sigh.

"I just told you: the break room," Soujiro repeated.

Kenshin took off his apron and hung it on one of the pegs by the door. "If I don't make it, you can have all my stuff."

"Hey, thanks!" Soujiro said cheerfully and strode away. Kenshin glared after him, and then at all his fellow workers in the kitchen who were hiding their smirks, just for good measure. No one cared. Soujiro got more respect in the Akabeko than he did. Of course, Soujiro was a little psychotic.

"I'll clean up for you," one of the waitresses volunteered.

Oh sure, they probably all took joy from hurrying him to his death. "Thanks," Kenshin managed.

The walk to the break room wasn't a long one. If Megumi chose to yell, they could probably hear it in the kitchens. But everyone knew better than that. Megumi never yelled, she merely ruled with an iron fist, and this was just her part-time job. Kenshin couldn't imagine how she acted in her residency in Mount Vernon. She probably didn't _permit_ her patients to die.

"Kenshin Himura," Megumi said as soon as he walked in. "How nice of you to grant me an audience." She was sitting in her waitress uniform with her long legs crossed at the knee, passively watching him. He knew five busboys, two dishwashers, three part-time chefs, and a waiter would've paid him twenty bucks for a photo. Kenshin couldn't get past her personality to see the attraction.

"Hi, Megumi. Soujiro said you wanted to see me?" He decided to take Sano's advice and play innocent. Stupider ideas had worked before.

"You should've known that already, Ken. I left a message on your cell phone."

"Didn't Sano mention that I lost it? I've still got to get a new one." This was slightly true, in the sense that he'd lost it on purpose a week ago. He noted that his heart rate was speeding up. So some part of him really was afraid of Megumi.

"Have a seat, Kenshin."

The only seat in the room was next to her. Women. Kenshin walked over and sat. Show no fear.

"I like to think of myself as an intelligent person," Megumi said casually. "I choose both my battles and my allies. That's why I want you to know that I put in my notice at the Akabeko a week ago," she said, catching Kenshin completely off guard. "My residency takes up most of my time now. I'll never have time to work at the Akabeko again."

Megumi stood from her chair. Her long black hair fell perfectly against her back. "You're not much good at playing the fool," she observed dryly. "I deserve honesty from you."

Kenshin abandoned the attempt at dumb and innocent. He shouldn't have listened to Sano. Everyone knew he was first on the list for her photo. "You don't deserve honesty. You've never given it."

She frowned, but her expression remained clear and untroubled. "You see through me, but I never claimed to possess the same ability."

He didn't know what she meant by that, but now wasn't the time for analyzing. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. "You ruled over the other waitresses from the first day you started working here. You're the type of person who does the same thing to everyone you can." The fact that he didn't want to give her the chance to dominate him went unspoken.

"Someone has to be the leader," Megumi said. The first tremors of emotion had leeched into her voice. She bit her lip lightly. "That's not the main issue here. It's you," she said. "You have the morals and ethics that are supposed to keep you from being a jerk about this, but somehow you still manage it." Her voice betrayed her now.

"I didn't come here to be preached to. If you want to know why that type of relationship between two people won't work out, then you look at the two people in it."

Megumi shook her head. "I don't understand why you didn't try."

"I didn't want to try," and then to make the statement less brutal. "You want forever and I can't give you that."

Everyone said Megumi was on the fast track to making it big (med school bills aside) because of her talent in the field of medicine. She'd become a doctor, there was not question about that. Kenshin had never figured out why she thought she needed him when everyone (except her) could see she already had Sano. "Good luck with your residency, Megumi," he said, although even that she wouldn't need.

For a split second, she stared at him in disbelief, but then reason took over and she stood once again a cool, collected beauty.

"I understand, Ken," she said graciously. "If you ever need anything, don't hesitate to call."

"Likewise."

Megumi turned away. She raised her hand in a brief wave and left the break room.

---

---

Kaoru stared apprehensively at the double doors to the ballroom as Okita checked their coats. If he left her alone in there, she was going to kill him. It was all well and good when she'd left the apartment because she liked dressing up, but these types of functions always got her wound up with nerves. Still, when Okita had come to pick her up he'd looked properly amazed at the transformation evoked by her second-best dress, a little makeup, and a pair of heels. She hadn't known if she'd pulled off the outfit because Yahiko was visiting his girlfriend for the weekend (again) and Kenshin worked on Saturdays. Then again, even if they had been there neither of them ever noticed what she was wearing anyway. But she'd pulled it off alright. In the car, Okita had told her they'd have a relaxing, enjoyable evening, but now she wondered, with that much socializing in her future it couldn't be very relaxing.

"You look apprehensive," Okita commented, walking over to her from the coat room. "Don't be. This dinner will be a nice break."

"Break?" Kaoru asked. For the first time, she noticed Okita seemed a few shades paler than usual. "You're working on a tough case?"

He smiled sheepishly. "It's private work for a friend of mine. I only started on it a couple weeks ago, but it's more stressful than I thought on top of my regular cases. But let me forget about that tonight, alright?"

"Is there anything I can do?"

He shook his head. "I can't talk about it, but thanks. That means a lot, coming from you." He leaned in and kissed her cheek.

Kaoru smiled and caught a whiff of alcohol. "Were you drinking before you came here?"

Okita laughed a little. "Just a pre-game."

Kaoru rolled her eyes. "You're not supposed to drink and drive. You're a cop!"

He held a hand in front of his mouth to trap his breath and took a sniff. "The smell should've been gone by now."

"That's no excuse!" Kaoru punched him. "Don't drink and dive with me in the car!"

Okita held his hands up to ward her off. "I just had a beer with a friend, that's all. I had to when I remembered all the boring speeches that're going to happen tonight."

"Boring speeches? You just had to bring me, didn't you," Kaoru accused.

He laughed for real this time and slid an arm around her waist. "They're going to love you in there."

Kaoru wasn't so sure, but she let him steer her towards the door. She'd just put on a smile for the crowd when a blur of a woman in three and a half inch heels shot out of the bathroom they were passing by and barreled straight into Kaoru. Kaoru stumbled, but the woman was light, and Kaoru managed to stop her from falling.

"Oh my God! I am so sorry!" the petite woman said. "I was in a rush to get back and I didn't see either of you!"

"It's fine," Kaoru said reassuringly, even though she was the victim. The woman seemed to be working herself up.

"No it's not!" she moaned. "This is a cop party! Running into you was like assaulting two police officers!"

"Only one," Kaoru corrected, pointing at Okita.

"I'm not pressing charges," he joked.

His smile seemed to relax the woman. Her blue eyes suddenly shone with mirth. "Well that's a relief," she said. As one, they resumed walking to the ballroom.

"I'm Kaoru, and this is my ticket to a free dinner: Okita." Somehow, this woman had taken the edge off her apprehension.

"Is that all I am to you?" Okita asked pitifully, eliciting a smile from both women.

"I'm Misao. My ticket's already inside," the woman said cheerfully, "We got here embarrassingly early."

---

---

Kenshin walked into the Akabeko's main office after his shift was over and saw his cousin sitting at the computer.

"It seems my diabolical plan to rid the world of your existence has failed miserably," Soujiro observed dryly.

"You'll have to do better next time," Kenshin acknowledged, moving over to the filing cabinet where he knew Tae kept the paychecks. "Did you know Megumi was quitting?"

"Yes. I take it this means you think you're off the hook," Soujiro said mildly. He stopped typing and picked up an envelope from the desk in front of him. "Your paycheck."

"How touching. You remembered." Kenshin walked over to his cousin and picked up the envelope.

"I doubt you're off the hook with Meg," Soujiro continued, watching him. "And Tomoe seems fierce."

Ah, so that was the real reason Soujiro was here, to rub something in his face. He should have known. "You met her?"

Soujiro looked back at his computer screen. "I gave her your address."

Kenshin had to laugh. "What did I ever do to you?"

"Remember that time when I was six –"

"Aunt Tae told you to stop holding grudges."

Soujiro smiled and resumed typing.

---

---

In the initial rush, Kaoru was introduced to Okita's partner (a tall, lank man with harsh features and narrow eyes) and his partner's sweet looking wife. She met Misao's 'ticket' (tall dark and handsome, with perfect skin) who was on his way to becoming a solemn and serious judge, and also engaged to Misao. Then there was Jenny Shura, Okita's ex-partner, a pretty woman who'd taken an instant dislike to her. Next was Tsunan Tsukioka (also tall, dark, and handsome), who Okita had known since training school but didn't seem to like much. Following him was a strained introduction to a tall blonde man with a southern accent, but after that, things had gotten friendlier (which was also right around the time of her second drink) and everyone else was blurred in her mind.

And throughout the whole affair (which was a blur of lights, awards, new people, and slightly too much alcohol), Okita didn't seem himself. Oh, she was sure no one else noticed, but she stood near him for almost the whole night and he just wasn't the same person.

"What's wrong?" Kaoru finally whispered to him towards the end of the evening. He'd stopped drinking so he could drive home and what little color the alcohol had given him was fading by the minute. He was probably sick. They were all standing on the cleared floor in the middle of the room, listening to what she hoped was the last speech of the evening. He'd been right about the speeches.

"Nothing's wrong, Kaoru," Okita whispered back. He was looking towards a door behind her and to the side. He'd been glancing towards it since the beginning of the speech. Kaoru tried to turn her head and look as well, but her view of whatever he found so interesting was blocked by the crowd.

"I'll be right back," he said, and started back through the mass of guests toward the door. Kaoru turned to look, but the woman behind her gave her an evil look for blocking her view, so she faced the front again. And that was the last time she saw Okita alive.


	5. Almost Shy

**Disclaimer - I don't own Rurouni Kenshin.**

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**5 -- _Almost Shy_**

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---

Kenshin pushed open the door to the precinct and scanned the large open room. Two women sat anxiously waiting in a row of chairs just beside the door, but neither of them were Kaoru. The precinct was busier than he'd ever seen it. Half the cops were sporting evening wear. The rest were in uniform. In his civilian clothes, Kenshin stood out.

He spotted Kaoru thirty feet away and off to his right, talking to a cop in uniform that he didn't recognize. From the angle he had of her face she looked composed enough. She wore evening wear as well. Kenshin was relieved to see that she wasn't wearing handcuffs or being fingerprinted. Whatever had happened didn't have to do with her in large part, then.

"Himura," a familiar voice said from behind him.

Kenshin turned. "Saitou." He wore evening wear as well. They'd never liked each other much. Kenshin regarded Saitou as an enemy, but he could tell from the look on the other man's face that he could put aside that aspect of their relationship for tonight.

"What's your relation to the Kamiya woman?" Saitou asked. He fumbled inside his coat pocket and came out with a cigarette. Even that was wrong. Saitou didn't fumble with anything.

"I've lived with her for three months," Kenshin replied. "Someone called and told me to come pick her up. What's going on?"

Saitou produced a lighter and set fire to his cigarette. "She had us call you, said her brother was out of town for the weekend."

"He is."

"Did you see her leave this evening?"

Kenshin frowned. This was an unofficial statement, but Saitou looked too interested. Kenshin glanced over at Kaoru. "No. I was at work from three to nine today."

Saitou blew out smoke through his nose. "Still working at the Akabeko?"

"Yes." Kenshin knew Saitou would place a casual call to his uncle and confirm his statement. "What happened to Kaoru?"

Saitou stared hard at him. "The annual police banquet was tonight. Miss Kamiya was Officer Okita's date. He was found dead during one of the speeches."

Kenshin looked at Kaoru with new eyes, but she hadn't seen him and he was too far away to discern her expression. From Yahiko, he knew that their mother had died two years ago, but the Kamiya siblings didn't have much experience with death, much less a cop's death. Saitou hadn't volunteered the reason why the officer had died, which meant either he didn't know yet, or he wasn't cleared to release the information because an investigation was pending. That could mean murder. "Did she see anything?"

Saitou shook his head. "She saw him leave the main hall, maybe to meet someone, but she wasn't sure. He might have just been going to the restroom." Saitou turned away. "She's been interviewed. You can take her home."

Kenshin was ten feet away from her when she finally saw him coming. She looked tired and her eyes were a little red, but she looked relieved to see him. She stood, and so did the cop she'd been speaking with.

"I'm sorry I had them call you, Kenshin. I didn't have a car and I didn't want to take the bus back. I really appreciate this."

"It's fine," he said, feeling a little dismayed that she'd thought he'd be upset about picking her up after her date had died on her.

"You're free to go, Miss Kamiya," said the cop, another one he didn't know. "We'll be in touch."

Kaoru nodded and took her coat from where it had been draped across the back of her chair, not her familiar giant blue coat, but a demure leather one which Kenshin doubted was actually warm. Wordlessly, Kenshin took her purse from her so she had both hands to slip into her coat. Then she walked right past him and he followed after her, still holding the purse.

Just looking at her, anyone could tell she was balanced on a knife edge or teetering on a cliff. She was barely holding herself together, but she was holding, holding until _something _happened. Kenshin dreaded that something, both because he'd had enough of emotional women for the night and because he had no idea what it was. Until they got outside? To the car? To the apartment? He didn't dare ask her.

But it proved to be none of those things, which unsettled him. She made it all the way to the apartment without breaking down, but she looked so strained that he wished she'd cry after all. When they entered the apartment she went straight to her room. Then he heard her get in the shower for five minutes, and then the sound of her brushing her teeth. She nodded to him in the hallway and by this time her expression was as smooth and clear as if she wasn't Kaoru at all. Then she went back into her room and shut the door. She hadn't said a word to him the whole time.

---

---

Sunday morning and Kaoru woke, sleepwalked to the bathroom, relieved herself, washed her hands and face, then brushed her teeth. She put her toothbrush back in its container and remembered Okita. Her eyes started to water, but she told herself that if she made it to the bathroom door, and it would be alright. She made it to the door and told herself she could make it to the kitchen. Then she would make it to the orange juice in the fridge and then – but that was too far ahead to think of now.

But she walked into the living room and saw Kenshin sitting on the couch with the paper like he always did on Sunday mornings. That was okay. That was normal. But then he looked up at her warily and set aside his paper. That was also nothing new. She'd lost her temper with him a few times before he'd learned the common decency to say hello to her when she walked in a room.

But today he also looked horribly expectant, like he was waiting for her to break down, as if he was afraid for her sanity if she didn't. Of course that made her eyes start to water again, because she'd never known Kenshin cared even that much for her.

She needed someone, but last night she'd needed to get out of the police station and if she'd called anyone but Kenshin she would've collapsed on them and not been able to walk out. Kenshin wasn't emotional. He wouldn't just dissolve like she did. At least that was what she'd thought, because now Kenshin had seen her tears and instead of recoiling he stood up and took a step towards her. That really got the waterworks going. Okita was dead. She'd spent time with Okita. She'd laughed with him and had fun with him. She was his friend. And he was dead.

"Come here," Kenshin said. His voice was softer than she'd ever heard it, and still Okita was dead. She felt Kenshin put his arms around her, just as Okita had (once upon a dead time) and she felt him whispering to her rather than heard it. Her eyes were shut tight but the tears kept coming anyway and the only thing she could hear was the sound of her own sobs and her heart thumping in her head. She clung to him, because she had to cling to something or she'd fall apart. Her body was racked with sobs and she didn't think she could stop. It seemed she'd keep crying forever…

---

---

Kaoru came back to herself in stages. First, the sobs eased in intensity, heightened again, eased again. She was dimly aware of Kenshin rhythmically rubbing a hand back and forth across her back. She wasn't sobbing, only crying now. She had to hitch to catch her breath and she started sniffling. She heard Kenshin's words again, not just the murmur of his voice. And when she stopped violently crying and could breathe almost normally again, he let her go and wordlessly gave her a tissue box. So she blew and blew and blew and wiped her eyes and held a couple tissues in her hand for good measure. Then she hugged him again because she needed physical contact.

"Do you need me to call anyone?" Kenshin asked.

Kaoru tried to speak, but couldn't even manage the word 'no', so she just shook her head and clung to him, needing to feel his chest rising and falling with her own because that meant she was alive. She'd certainly live to be embarrassed later, but right now she was beyond all that.

She waited until her breathing had returned to normal and the tears only leaked from her eye, then she blew her nose once more and pulled away. "Did anyone tell you what happened when you came to pick me up?"

Kenshin nodded reluctantly. "Were you dating him?"

Kaoru shook her head. "We were friends. I mean, we dated, and then decided to be friends."

Kenshin nodded as if he understood, and maybe he did. Kaoru was starting to think she'd misjudged him. Maybe he'd only seemed cold next to Okita's warmth. She'd known both of them for almost the same length of time. "Why would anyone want to kill him?"

Kenshin shook his head to signify that he didn't know. "Would food make you feel a little better? It's one o'clock."

Kaoru looked over at the clock in surprise. She'd slept a lot longer than she'd thought.

"I'll make us both something," Kenshin said, correctly sensing her answer. She'd never noticed how nice his voice was, how soothing. He guided her over to sit on the couch, then put the box of tissues next to her. He turned on the TV. An old James Bond movie was playing. That was good. She needed a distraction.

"I'll get you some juice to drink while you wait," he said, and she watched him disappear into the kitchen. She could hear him rustling around, the sound comforting and more alive than the television. Kaoru hoped he'd come back with orange juice.

---

---

Surprisingly, Kaoru had turned out to be the one emotional female Kenshin could actually stand to be around. He'd known that he thought she was appealing, but even beautiful women were ugly when they cried. And Kaoru wasn't. He hadn't even _thought_ about how she looked the whole time she'd been crying all over him. After last night, her tears had been a relief, especially considering the fact that she'd dated the guy at one point. Kenshin had met Okita on more than one occasion, but he'd never worked with him, and Okita had been too young to have been assigned to one of the Akabeko cases.

Kenshin heard the sound of Kaoru blowing her nose from the living room. He'd put on her favorite movie ('Rush Hour') and sat with her, not doing anything but working on a homework set. She'd cried on the sad parts, which was really saying something since the movie was a Jackie Chan/Chris Tucker comedy, but by the time he'd put in 'Rush Hour 2', she'd started smiling a little.

Kenshin stirred her cup of hot chocolate a last time and carried it back out into the living room. He hadn't known until today that he possessed this nurturing facet of his personality. He'd never had to care for anyone before. His family had Tae to do all this and Sano didn't want anyone near him when he was upset, but Kaoru had no one.

That wasn't true, Kenshin reflected as he handed the mug over and Kaoru shot him a grateful look before turning back to the movie. She _did_ have people. And now she had him too.

His cell phone rang before he could sit down. He glanced at the screen, expecting Sano to call about their Sunday workout, but he recognized Saitou's cell phone number and retreated into the kitchen.

"Did something happen?"

"Are you with Miss Kamiya right now?" Saitou asked sharply.

"Yeah. We're at the apartment. What's wrong?"

"Okita was murdered."

Kenshin closed his eyes for a moment. "Does Kaoru need to come down to the precinct again?"

"No. We knew the cause of death last night, but didn't see fit to release the details until today. The funeral's on Friday. His family's still making the arrangements. We'll be in touch. I'd appreciate it if you told the girl."

"Why did you call me?" Kenshin asked evenly. "I had nothing to do with this. I only met him a couple times."

There was a moment of silence on the other line. "I might have a job for you."

Saitou had been waiting for the right moment to bring this up apparently. He never had wanted to use Kenshin unless there was no other option. That meant the job was at least interesting.

Saitou coughed twice, the raspy smoker's cough that, thanks to their hours spent together, Kenshin now associated with the older man.

"I don't have time to do a job with school," Kenshin said, which meant he wasn't going to be paid crap wages for this.

"It might help solve Okita's case, and you know someone who's personally involved," Saitou said, which meant he was damn well going to pay Kenshin crap wages. "Think about it."

Saitou hung up.

Kenshin frowned but hung up as well, then turned around and saw Kaoru standing in the doorway with a look of dread on her face, as if she already knew what he'd been charged by Saitou to tell her. Well, there was no time like the present.

"That was Officer Saitou."

"Why'd he call you?" she asked, bewilderment creeping into her voice instead of the suspicion that, in her place, he would have felt.

"He's a local cop. I've known him for years."

She only nodded and braced herself.

"He said Okita was murdered."

He didn't know what he'd expected, more tears, perhaps? But she only nodded in a final way that told him she was done crying.

"How?"

"He couldn't release that information yet, but he said he'd be in touch."

She accepted that too. "Thanks for helping me get through today, Kenshin. I'm going to try and finish my work for tomorrow."

He felt suddenly uncomfortable, now that she'd regained control of herself. It had been simpler between them when she'd needed something from him and he'd given it. Now he thought she was beautiful again and everything that went along with that. "No problem," he managed, feeling awkward because no one had ever made him feel almost shy before.

She stepped forward and hugged him, and this time he felt every plane and curve of her body, even her fingers entwined at his back. This time he breathed the smell of her hair and heard the sound of their mingled breathing.

It was a quick hug. She pulled back before he had the chance to return it, and she cast him an uncharacteristically shy smiled. "Thanks, Kenshin."

Then she turned and walked away.

She hadn't drunk more than a third of her hot chocolate, she'd forgotten to turn off the TV, and about a million used tissues littered the living room, but he could live with that. Maybe he was going crazy. He'd lived with Kaoru for over three months without a teaspoon of extra-feeling for her and now he was content to spend half the day with her miserable and crying next to him. And he couldn't stand other people's misery (or cleaning up their messes). He seriously needed to get some perspective.


	6. Private Work

**Disclaimer - I don't own Rurouni Kenshin.**

---

**6 -- _Private Work_**

---

---

Sano drained the rest of his wine. "My cousin mentioned this case to me, but I had no clue you were involved, Missy. You didn't even tell me you were going out with the guy."

Kaoru popped her last piece of chicken into her mouth. "I don't have to tell you what I do when you're not around. Any of you," she said, pointing her fork around the table at Yahiko and Kenshin too.

Yahiko glared at her, but Kenshin ignored her and addressed Sano. "Are you talking about Katsu?"

"Who?" Kaoru asked.

"My cousin," Sano said, "The one who's married to the Italian woman."

"Oh," Kaoru remembered. "The woman you're in love with."

"Yeah, her. Anyway, my cousin Katsu is a cop. He and Okita went through training together. He was at the party too, so you probably met him."

"You're in love with your cousin's wife?" Yahiko asked in disgust.

"Shut up, brat," Sano said, absentmindedly punching Yahiko on the top of his head. "Katsu said the funeral's this Saturday. You're not going alone are you?"

"I'm taking her," Kenshin said.

Sano raised an eyebrow but didn't comment. "Good, because I'd hate to run into Saitou and I know little Yahiko here'll be heading up north to visit his girlfriend all weekend. What is this? The third weekend in a row?"

Kaoru laughed as Yahiko turned red.

"It's not my fault that I am in a mature and healthy relationship," Yahiko said loudly, picking up his plate from the table. "Everyone knows long distance relationships don't work. That's why Tsubame and I work together to keep it mid-distance and healthy!" He stomped off to the kitchen.

"You tease him too much, Sano," Kenshin observed, shaking his head and finishing his wine.

"No he doesn't!" Kaoru put in. "That was perfect, Sano."

Sano smirked and leaned back in his chair. "I know."

Yahiko came back with a vengeance and started attacking Sano's substitutions in the last basketball game he'd helped coach. Kenshin joined in, playing the devil's advocate on both sides. Kaoru leaned back and let the conversation wash over her. Maybe this was what she needed to lift her a little from her depression about Okita. Maybe it wasn't bad to smile again. She wished Megumi could have come over, but she understood that the other woman wasn't ready to face Kenshin yet. For Sano's sake, Kaoru hoped she got over him soon.

---

---

"And now, if the friends of the deceased wish, they may pay their last respects," the minister called out over the crowd of mourners at the gravesite.

Kaoru glanced up at him, a question, but Kenshin knew he didn't qualify as a friend of Okita's. He'd come to the funeral as a gesture of respect to the precinct that had helped his family out over the years, and of course, for Kaoru.

"I'll wait for you here," he told her, and turned his attention away from the crowd as she disappeared into it. By some coincidence this was the same cemetery where his parents were buried, although in another area of the sprawling grounds. He hadn't visited their graves since before he'd gone to college, but he knew his aunt was a regular. She'd loved her sister and her brother-in-law.

"I'm surprised you came," Saitou said, stopping to stand next to him. "Are you still considering the job offer?"

"I didn't come to talk business," Kenshin said mildly. He'd seen Saitou pay his respects to the body of Okita just after the family had, implying that he was a lot closer to the dead man than Kenshin had thought.

"I need you for this one," Saitou said, as if that statement sealed the 'yes' verdict of Kenshin's decision. "The court date is set for Friday morning. Can I have you ready that night, assuming the suspect does run?"

Kenshin kept his eyes trained on the macabre panorama of the cemetery in winter. "I'd have to take off work at the Akabeko. Is it worth my time?"

Saitou snorted. "It's worth it," he said, meaning the suspect was going to run. "I need you solo."

"I'm always solo."

"Come as soon as you can that afternoon and I'll give you the file. We'll go over the job then.

"I'll call you when my uncle confirms that he can spare me from the restaurant," Kenshin said, which meant he was holding out on Saitou and could still refuse to do the job.

Saitou lit a cigarette and moved away.

Kenshin pulled his hat down lower over his ears. The cold had lifted yesterday, enough to cover Baltimore under three inches of loose snow. Looking out over the untrodden snow of the graveyard, everything was clean and uniform. The cleared cemetery road wound between the headstones like a rope.

---

---

Kaoru placed her white carnation on Okita's casket and murmured a short prayer. White carnations mean remembrance. Her heart went out to the surviving members of the Okita family. Her friend had left behind his mother, two older sisters, and their families. The minister had mentioned that his father had died three years ago. That was too much for a family to have to take. Okita had never hinted of his loss to her, and she had never told him about her mother.

This lack of confiding in each other was yet another reason they hadn't made it as a couple, but their friendship had been so new. She believed that their family histories might have come out given more time, time they'd never have now. She'd told the police everything she could, but did the fact that he'd been feeling sick that night matter in the face of murder? Of course not. Still, as she walked past his grieving immediate family, tears of sympathy clouded her vision. She'd help them if she could.

"Hi Kaoru," a small voice said. An arm looped through her own.

Kaoru blinked her tears away and focused on Misao, the petite woman who's barreled into her at the dinner.

"Hi, Misao. I didn't know I'd see you here."

"It's really good to see you, Kaoru," she said, glancing around, but of course no one was paying the slightest attention to them. "How are you holding up?" Misao went on, "You're not here alone are you?" As if not able to stand the possibility of that idea, she smothered Kaoru in a hug before Kaoru could reply.

"I'm okay," Kaoru said into Misao's woolen hat. "I'm not here alone."

"Good," Misao said, and pulled back, but she grabbed hold of Kaoru's gloved hands. Misao still looked extremely distracted. "Listen, there's something not right about Okita's death," she said in a low tone so only Kaoru could hear her voice beneath the murmur of the crowd. "They can't find anyone with motive and opportunity. He did private work, but kept that separate from the force and from his family." Misao was talking impossibly fast now, and the speech sounded rehearsed. "He was poisoned first, which collaborates your theory about him being sick. Then later in the hallway, he was shot with a silencer. But, for some reason they're closing the case high up. Officer Saitou's fighting, but he's going to lose. He came to see Aoshi at home and I overheard. You have to keep the case open, Kaoru."

"What can I do?" Kaoru asked in confusion.

"There's a chance whoever did this thinks you saw something in that doorway. Aoshi admitted that they might come after you, but he doesn't think that will happen. I wouldn't have told you this if there wasn't a possibility of your life being in danger. Watch your back and call me if you need anything," Misao said, finally dropping Kaoru's hands and leaving a piece of paper on Kaoru's glove. Kaoru shoved it in her pocket.

"I'd stay longer, but Aoshi would kill me if he found out I told you anything," Misao said, backing away. "Stay safe, Kaoru."

Kaoru nodded. "You too, Misao." She watched as the woman melted into the crowd. She needed to talk to Kenshin.

---

---

"And that's everything Misao said," Kaoru finished. Kenshin glanced behind him to see her step around a couple dead flower bouquets half buried in yesterday's premature snow. He'd always hated the fickle nature of Baltimore weather.

"I think this Misao woman is a drama queen," Kenshin said. "If there's real danger, the cops are obligated to tell you. There's only the possibility of it, and there's always the possibility of it."

"That's very philosophical, but we're talking about my life here," she said in an annoyingly Kaoru tone of voice. No, he didn't know exactly what that meant just yet, but he liked it, even when she was blowing things out of proportion.

"You said Saitou is fighting to keep the case open, right?" he asked, changing the subject and topping a rise in the cemetery. His parents lay towards the bottom of the slope.

"Yes," she replied. "Okita was his partner."

Kenshin stopped walking for a moment in surprise. "He was?"

Kaoru caught up to him. "Yeah."

Kenshin resumed walking. "That explains why he wants me to do a job for him. He said it could be related to this case."

"He wants you to do something for him?" Kaoru asked in surprise. Her voice was the only sound in this part of the cemetery. Okita's funeral was over. Kaoru had vetoed going to the funeral dinner at the family home.

"I'm a registered bounty hunter in the state of Maryland. Apparently someone important is going to skip their last chance at a court date and jump bail this Friday."

Kaoru made a strange noise behind him. They had almost reached the graves, but he stopped to look back at Kaoru. Her gloved hands were covering her mouth and her eyes were shining at him. She was laughing.

"What's so funny?"

She dropped her hands from her face. "No offense, Kenshin, but I can't imagine you chasing people down like Dog the bounty hunter."

"Of course not. I'm much more subtle," he said simply enough that she stopped smiling and peered at him as if she'd never really looked at him before.

"So is this a part-time thing for you?"

Kenshin stopped in front of his parents' graves. "I started doing it because the people who broke into the Akabeko skipped their trial and got away. By the time I got my license, I couldn't actually catch them, but it still made me feel better."

"Why'd you stop?"

"Aunt Tae hated it."

"But you're going to do this for Officer Saitou anyway?" she asked, "To keep Okita's case open?"

"I haven't decided yet," he said, and knelt in front of his mother's grave. Behind him, Kaoru had finally noticed whose graves they stood near because he heard her sharp intake of breath and then her silence.

Kenshin had no flowers to give his mother, so he settled for brushing the snow away from the gravestone. He barely remembered her. His early years were filled with memories of Aunt Tae, Uncle Hiko, and an infant Soujiro. Kenshin touched the light scar that crisscrossed his left cheek. The car crash that had taken his parents had spared him, but left him with an inerasable reminder.

Kenshin heard the motor of a car passing by slowly along cemetery road a hundred yards north of him. He stood, saying a mental farewell to his mother, and moved to his father's headstone. He brushed the snow off it as well. The members of his father's family were all dead or gone by the time he'd married. Kenshin crouched down and put his gloved fingers against the date of his father's death.

"Kenshin," Kaoru said from behind him.

He turned.

"Did you hear something funny?" she asked. As he watched, her hair moved slightly, as if a strong wind had just passed by. There was a ping-grind noise from the headstone behind her.

Kenshin tackled Kaoru and rolled them behind a headstone.

"What?" she asked, gazing blearily up at him.

"Stay down," he said, even though she hadn't tried to move. He heard tire squealing: the motor he'd heard before. So someone _was_ trying to kill Kaoru. He risked putting his head up, but he saw nothing but a glimpse of an unmarked cop car, and then its receding taillights as they disappeared behind a hill at a curve in the road. If he remembered right, there was an exit from the cemetery in that direction. The car was most likely gone.

Kenshin got off Kaoru and sat down in the snow.

"What just happened?" she asked, sitting up and staring at him with wide eyes.

"Someone just shot at you from that car. They must have had a silencer."

"What! That's what that noise was?"

"And they did it from an unmarked cop car."

Kaoru stared at him. "You mean Misao was right?"

Kenshin glanced at the cemetery road. "Maybe." There was always the chance that they'd come back and try again.

"And the only cop we can trust is Officer Saitou?"

"Maybe," Kenshin said again, thinking at a furious pace. They wouldn't have shot at her if they hadn't thought she was alone, but he'd been crouched down, and the headstones had blocked him from sight from the road. He'd feel better about this if he got in touch with Sano's cousin.

"Maybe," she repeated flatly, drawing his attention back to her.

"We can't trust any of them for sure," he said, "not with your life."

Kaoru sighed. "Do we know anything for sure?"

She was dealing with her potential death a lot better than she had with Okita's actual death. Or maybe she was in denial.

"Did you see anything that night, Kaoru?"

She shook her head, her face attractively pink with cold, her body strewn unconsciously graceful in the snow. "I didn't."

Well someone had seen her, which meant she _had_ seen something incriminating, she just had no clue what it was. And now that same someone had seen him too.

"I'm going to take Saitou's job," he told her.


	7. The Sound of Us

**Disclaimer - I don't own Rurouni Kenshin.**

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**7 -- _The Sound of Us_**

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---

"Hi Miss Kaoru, how are you today?" a little girl asked from behind her.

Kaoru turned and smiled. Sophie, one of the children the Gensais babysat, had gotten away again. Mrs. Gensai ran a babysitting service, and between all the children running around, and the neighbors next door that seemed to be throwing a perpetual party, someone was always in the hallway.

"I'm good, Soph. How are you?"

"Great!" the little girl exclaimed, bouncing to the music that spilled into the hallway from the perpetual partier's apartment. "Mrs. Gensai made us all hot coco!"

"Sophie Marie!" Mrs. Gensai scolded, stepping into the hallway. "Your mother called and said she's on her way. What are you doing out here?"

"Talkin'."

Mrs. Gensai shook her head and flashed Kaoru a smile. "Come inside and help me with Stevie, okay?"

The sound of little kids laughing came from the Gensai apartment. "Is Stevie burping the alphabet again?" Sophie asked, her eyes lighting up.

"Third time today," Mrs. Gensai said.

"Bye, Miss Kaoru!" Sophie called and shot into the apartment again.

"Have a good day, hon," Mrs. Gensai said, and disappeared after her.

Kaoru nodded and turned back to her door, fumbling in her coat pocket for her keys, which were always getting lost inside it. She really needed to start shoving them in the same pocket every day, but apparently that was too much to ask of herself in the morning.

"Good job, Kaoru," she muttered, still searching for her keys. This might have been acceptable if it was Friday, but tonight was Wednesday and she had work due tomorrow, work she hadn't started yet.

She felt cold metal against her finger tips. "Finally," she said, and opened the apartment door. It opened into the kitchen, where she saw Yahiko chugging from the orange juice container.

"Is that the one I bought?" she asked.

Yahiko stopped chugging and looked guiltily at her. "It's almost gone. I'm just finishing it off. How was your day?"

"Alright," Kaoru replied, setting her shoulder bag down on the floor so she could take off her coat. "Yours? You haven't been around much lately."

"What do you care?" he said immaturely, which meant he knew it and he felt guilty.

Kaoru favored him with the superior smile she knew he especially hated and dropped her giant blue coat on top of her bag. "I didn't know you and your girlfriend were so serious."

"Oh, God," Yahiko groaned. "I'm not telling you anything."

"Why not?" she asked, and took the orange juice container from him, which was indeed empty, and dropped it in the trash. "You study hard all week so you can be with her every weekend, all weekend. There's got to be something to tell."

Yahiko inched past her, looking mortified. "There's nothing. You know I stay at home when I visit."

Kaoru did know that was true. Tsubame, Yahiko's girlfriend, was from their home town, two hours north of Baltimore. She went to a local college and lived at home.

"And speaking of studying, I think my break's over," Yahiko said, and got out of the kitchen so fast, she could have sworn she saw dust kicking up behind him.

Kaoru allowed herself an evil laugh and grabbed an apple from the fridge. Yahiko's door slammed shut in the distance. It was good to be the older sister.

And then Kenshin walked into the kitchen. Oh, he tried to make it look casual, but it wasn't a very convincing try.

"Hey," she said, rubbing her apple on her shirt. "What's wrong?"

From the way he started, she knew he hadn't expected her to notice. But she'd discovered that if there was anything Kenshin could do, it was adjust (fluidly) to almost any situation.

"You do remember that there's someone trying to kill you?" he asked, stepping close to her and keeping his tone low because they'd decided not to tell Yahiko yet. He was standing a little too close, but Kaoru didn't mind. Living with the knowledge that your life could very possibly end the next time you walked outside forced a girl to admit things to herself, and she'd admitted that she'd always thought Kenshin was a bit of a jerk, but an attractive jerk nonetheless, in a redheaded, violet-eyed way.

"Being shot at isn't something I forget," she replied. Even the faint scar that crossed his cheek was attractive. In fact, it kind of added to his overall appeal, not that she'd ever tell him that. She wouldn't want it to go to his head.

"Then explain to me why you walked home alone," Kenshin asked. "I said Sano or I would come get you when you were ready."

Oops. Kaoru felt instantly guilty. "I walked back with two of the girls from work that live in the building," she explained. "I forgot to call you."

"I know," he said sarcastically. He was angry, but mostly he looked relieved. How sweet. Kenshin cared enough to worry about her.

"Why didn't you pick up when I called your cell phone?"

Oops again. "Um, I never turned it up from silent after I left work."

Now he only looked frustrated. "Kaoru-"

She held up her hands. "I'm sorry! Habit! I'll stop – I mean I'll start! I'll start paying more attention to my cell phone!"

"And you'll call before you leave work to come home."

Kaoru nodded. "That too." Kenshin was scary when he was frustrated, of course that could only be because he'd never been frustrated at her before.

"And you'll call when you get to work."

Kaoru nodded yes. Ouch, he was demanding.

"And you'll call when you go to lunch."

"Oh fine," Kaoru gave in. "But can I just text message?"

"Call," he said firmly. "I want to hear your voice." Really, Kenshin was the most stubborn man she'd ever met, but that last sentence would've been sweet if he'd said it under other circumstances.

"Only if you call me too," she said, because let's face it, she was stubborn too. "They could be trying to get you too by now." She hadn't been able to bring herself to say 'kill'.

She knew he'd noticed, but he didn't comment, only shook his head. "They probably don't know who I am yet. I can take care of myself."

If that wasn't the most chauvinistic thing he'd said the whole time she'd known him, then she'd hate to hear what was. But she'd give him the benefit of the doubt, because he was still upset (and he was probably right). Kaoru smiled. "We can keep score of who calls who first. I bet I'll beat you every day."

Kenshin raised an eyebrow. "This isn't a _game_."

"I know. I'm still going to win."

He narrowed his eyes and tried to stare her down, but he should have known better than to think that would work.

Kaoru took a bite of her apple, chewed and swallowed through the stare. "Yeah, I think I'll be the one winning every single day."

Kenshin sighed. Kaoru smiled.

"Not every single day," he said.

"We'll see about that," Kaoru said smugly.

---

---

"And you're sure you shouldn't tell Yahiko that someone's trying to kill you?" Sano asked over the phone. "I think you should."

"He'll just tell Dad, and then I'll be out of school so fast, I won't know what hit me. Kenshin'll figure this out tonight," Kaoru told him, giving Kenshin a thumbs up as he finished up an apple in the kitchen.

"So you let me know only because my cousin's a cop and can give us inside information?"

Kaoru smiled. She liked the sound of 'us' from Sano's mouth. "And because you're my friend."

"Sweet," Sano said sarcastically. "But Yahiko's your brother."

"Look, we'll tell him after tonight's over."

"Oh no. You'll tell him. I want no part in holding back secrets from a friend."

Kaoru sighed. "Fine. Just get up here. Kenshin's about to go meet Saitou soon."

"I'll be there in ten."

Kaoru hung up and sat the phone down on the counter.

"Is he coming?" Kenshin asked, watching her carefully through his violet eyes.

"In ten minutes. He thinks we should have told Yahiko."

Kenshin shrugged. "We didn't tell him so he could study for his finals. Now they're over and he's gone home. If this doesn't play itself out tonight, we'll tell him over the holidays. That's what we agreed on."

Kaoru nodded. "I know. I feel guilty though. I would want to be told."

"It's already done," Kenshin said dismissively, moving towards her to drop his apple core in the trash. "Don't open the door for anyone unless it's Sano."

"I'm not a little kid," Kaoru said, her words reminding her of Yahiko's when they'd been younger. Her breath hitched in her throat as he met her eyes. He was standing too close. To cover her sudden nervousness, she hugged him. "Be safe, Kenshin."

"I've done this dozens of times," he said, his low voice pleasing next to her ear. "Just be here when I get back." He pulled away and went to the hall closet to get his coat.

Kaoru frowned after him. She had a feeling it wasn't going to be as easy as he'd meant her to believe.

---

---

"Battousai," Joseph Finn murmured through a thick haze of smoke. "Never thought I'd see you again."

"I moved on," Kenshin told him simply. He'd forgotten the false name he'd gone by in those days. He felt an unexpected stir inside him. He gazed blandly at the four bodyguards surrounding him. "You've done well for yourself, Finn."

Finn laughed. His eyes were red from the weed he smoked. "Can't say the same for you, even if you did go to school." He let out a puff of smoke shaped like a circle. "And that food joint of your mum's'll never be five star."

"I need information," Kenshin said evenly, not bothering to tell Finn that Tae was his aunt. "About a cop's death."

Finn's eyes narrowed. Kenshin forced himself to maintain eye contact. He'd always been a good liar, but he had to work at it. He tried to ignore the smell of weed, knowing his clothes would be saturated in it by the time he left. Finn nodded to the men beside him and they left silently.

"Which cop?" Finn asked, that hungry look in his eyes, the one Kenshin equated with drugs and women, and in Finn's case, peanut butter ice cream. It was strange, that he remembered that detail – Finn loving peanut butter ice cream.

"Souji Okita," Kenshin said him. Finn's drug dealing made a nice profit on the side, but now he was heavily into illegal weapons. He was the sole supplier for the citizens of Baltimore, after killing off or running out the other major ones. Saitou wanted Kenshin on this case because Kenshin and Finn had been uneasy acquaintances once. It was disturbing to see where he'd ended up.

"Have a seat." Finn tilted his head and looked at him sideways. Fine dark hair, already thin, brushed across his forehead. Finn was only six years older than Kenshin. "I had nothing to do with it."

"I didn't think you did," Kenshin said.

Finn leaned back against his chair and put his hand to his forehead for a second, just as Kenshin had seen him do a dozen times years ago. "He bought it at a frickin' cop party," Finn said. "Who'd be stupid enough to kill a cop at a cop party?" He took a drag from his cigarette.

"The higher ups are trying to close the case," Kenshin said.

Finn shrugged. "I'm only telling you this because Okita was alright, for a cop." He stared at Kenshin hard.

Kenshin didn't move.

"Okita was helping out a friend of mine who was in trouble, but he didn't do it. He saw something, something a buncha cops didn't mean for him to see." Finn sat up straight again. "If they knew he told Okita, well, then they'd be the ones who killed him."

"Who's your friend?"

Finn shook his head. "It doesn't matter."

"It does. I'm trying to help someone."

Finn shook his head. "You can't help the dead."

"What?"

Finn leaned back in his chair. "They haven't found the body yet, but he's dead."

This was going to be harder than Kenshin had thought.

"I heard you skipped your court date today," Kenshin said.

Finn yawned. "I did hear you'd brought some guys in for the bail companies a while back. You still doing that?"

"Yeah."

Finn's eyes took on a thoughtful look. The man had enough imagination to figure out for himself who had sent Kenshin here, although he probably already knew. Finn had always had enough imagination. Imagination had been the force that brought him into steadily darker worlds.

"You wouldn't be working for the higher ups, would you, Battousai?" Finn asked finally.

Kenshin shook his head. "I'm working with Saitou. I don't know who he's working for."

Finn raised an eyebrow, a surprisingly elegant gesture on his face. "There's no way that bastard's working for the higher-ups. He sent you here to take me to jail, huh? I wonder why."

Kenshin shrugged.

"He's never liked you."

"I know," Kenshin acknowledged. "You should know that Saitou knew you had a connection to Okita. That's why he sent me."

"I wonder how the hell he knew," Finn murmured to himself. He sent another smoke ring into the air. "Have a seat, Battousai. I got a new shipment in tonight, that's the only reason I'm still in Baltimore."

Kenshin sat down in the only other chair in the dark study – a plush armchair. He sank into the cushion. The springs were broken and his knees were higher than his butt. He'd have trouble standing quickly. He watched Finn smoke.

"I know the person you're helping is a woman," Finn continued. "You're still skinny. I didn't think any woman would have you, but you always were stronger than you look. Woman know things like that."

Kenshin wasn't surprised that he knew about Kaoru. He wondered when Finn's joint would kick in. Finn tried most of the new merchandise himself before selling it to the public. Stupid, but he'd been high for so long, he probably felt the need for new risk. If Kenshin ever found out what had happened to make Finn want it, well then he'd know too much about Finn, and maybe too much about himself.

"Why don't you care that Saitou knows?" Kenshin asked, because he knew they possessed a mutual hatred for each other.

"He can't do anything without a warrant and personally, he doesn't have shit," Finn said. He grinned. His teeth were as white, clean, and straight as any actor's. "Kid, you bring back memories. You drive here?"

"Yeah." Saitou had decided an old Ford pickup would be best. He had it registered under a middle aged woman who was out of town. If Finn's people checked the plates, they'd learn that it had been reported stolen from a parking lot a month ago. Finn knew that Kenshin was a bounty hunter, and that Saitou had sent him, but he also knew that if Kenshin had been planning to bring him in, they wouldn't be sitting here chatting.

"You'll drive us to one of my storage facilities," Finn announced, standing. He shoved the handgun sitting on the nightstand inside the waistband of his pants, where Kenshin knew he had a holster.

Kenshin struggled up from the sagging chair, deciding Finn probably kept it to demoralize his clients.

Finn grinned as if they were setting off on a grand adventure the like of the great epic stories. "Let's go."


	8. Spin from the Force

**Disclaimer - I don't own Rurouni Kenshin.**

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**8 -- _Spin from the Force_**

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---

There was a knock at the door.

Kaoru sat up straight on the couch.

The knock came again. Sano would pick the most horrible time to be in the bathroom. She wasn't supposed to be answering the door alone, but it was probably just one of the kids from the Gensai's place again.

"Just a minute!" Kaoru yelled, shoving the research papers off her legs and onto the couch. Friday night and she was studying (kind of) for a final that wasn't for four days. But she was worried about Kenshin, and she had to do something while she waited for him to come back besides watch TV with Sano.

She looked through the peephole and saw a familiar face in the form of the woman who'd been fighting with Megumi over Kenshin a few weeks ago.

Kaoru opened the door.

"So maybe I'll be as pretty as you some day?" Lisa, one of the Gensai's kids, was asking Kenshin's girlfriend.

The woman smiled. "You already are. Now you'd better get back to the other kids before you miss something fun."

Lisa grinned. "I will. Bye, lady! Bye, Miss Kaoru!" She ran off and disappeared back into the Gensai apartment.

The woman smiled and held out a hand to Kaoru. "I don't know if you remember me, but my name is Tomoe. I know that you're Kaoru."

Kaoru shook her hand. "Nice to meet you, Tomoe. I'm sorry, but Kenshin isn't here."

Tomoe laughed quietly. "I knew it would be a long shot catching him on a Friday night. Tell me, are you two at all involved romantically?"

She said it with such frankness that Kaoru immediately blushed. "We're just roommates."

Tomoe watched her expressions with an intelligent blandness. "But you live together."

Kaoru's blush deepened. "Oh, my brother lives here too. He and Kenshin were friends before I even started going to the same school. Listen, I don't mean to be rude, but why is this any of your business?"

Tomoe's eyes widened slightly. "I'm sorry," she said smoothly, "I didn't mean to be impertinent. Kenshin and I were involved with each other when we were both undergrads, but my career path led me abroad. I'm going to be in Baltimore after Christmas for three months. I was hoping to speak with Kenshin, but I can't get hold of him by phone."

"Missy?" Sano asked, appearing behind Kaoru and dropping an arm around her shoulder. "Who's this?"

"I'm Tomoe. It's nice to meet you." Tomoe reached in her purse and pulled out a slip of paper. "Would you give Kenshin this? I won't be in town again until after the holidays, but I'd appreciate a call."

Kaoru took the slip of paper. "I'll give it to him."

Tomoe smiled serenely. "Thank you." She turned away gracefully. "Happy holidays."

Kaoru shut the door behind her and frowned. She didn't like how flustered the woman had made her feel with only a few choice phrases.

"So that was Tomoe," Sano said thoughtfully, which surprised her because he was rarely thoughtful.

"You've heard of her?"

"Hell yes," Sano said, his voice still different from its usual tone. "Hey, what were you doing answering the door without me?" he asked, snapping back to normal.

"I live here, and you were taking too long."

"Because I washed my hands."

Kaoru pushed past him. "Whatever."

"I'm telling Kenshin!"

**---**

**---**

By the time they reached Finn's storage facility, Finn was losing it thanks to a choice combination of drugs and beer. He was barely able to direct Kenshin as he navigated the car through the maze of public storage warehouses to the one he'd spoken of earlier.

"Number eight-seven-one," Finn said.

Kenshin didn't own enough things to warrant putting them in storage, so he hadn't been to one of these types of places since he'd come with his uncle as a child. They had numerical combinations now, and Finn's was ten numbers long.

"Wait," Kenshin said as they got out of the car. "Did you hear that?"

Finn froze, but Kenshin heard nothing more besides the distant rush of traffic on the highway.

"There's no one here," Finn said, "Noone. It's noon here, haha. High noon and we'll meet the cops by the O.K. Corral. Life gets dark fast, but not at high noon. Sun's as bright as five gazillion headlights. See? Getcha sunglasses here too. Combo nine. Four. Zero. Ten. Three. Seven-teen. Zero. Six."

Whatever drug Finn took had made him higher than one of the skyscrapers downtown, but Kenshin went to the lock on the storage warehouse's door and typed in the combination. The screen flashed green for a second and the door started to rise.

Kenshin glanced around uneasily. The noise from the door would cover the little sounds a person moving quietly might make, or even a few people. But the long row of storage houses was silent. Nothing moved.

"It's loud," Finn yelled over the mechanical noise from the door, "Hell, at this rate we'll take on the cops with bitchin' headaches." He ducked under the door and turned on a light, illuminating the area where Kenshin stood. Kenshin took a last look at their surroundings, bent his head, and walked inside after him.

The place was mostly bare. Six filing cabinets stood in a line across the middle of the floor, their backs to the entrance. The back wall was lined with full bookshelves. Finn walked unsteadily towards the filing cabinets. Kenshin followed, glad that the cabinets would at least block them from the view of anyone outside, if there was someone lurking out there.

Finn walked towards the cabinet in the middle and pulled out the drawer second from the top. He handed Kenshin a piece of paper, a copy of a record of credit and debit transactions.

"What's this?"

Finn laughed. "Wow. If you don't even know what that is, someone's really screwing you over." He pulled out his cell phone, fumbling it open. "Oh hell. What'd that stuff do?"

While Finn placed his call, Kenshin scanned the paper, keeping an ear out for any unusual sounds. The date at the top of the paper said it was printed earlier in the year, on November 16th. The paper was a record of the credit and debit transactions at a local Baltimore gas station. There were 100 transactions from eleven thirty to three in the morning and each transaction had the date, time, card holder's name, and the last four digits of the card. The name was whited-out for customer number 79.

Finn walked away from Kenshin towards the far end of the row of filing cabinets and murmured into the phone. Outside, Kenshin thought he heard a scraping noise, but if he had, it stopped and didn't repeat.

Finn ended his call and wove back towards Kenshin, frowning. "I made you an appointment with a guy who'll tell you about that missing name, but that's all I'll do, and that's only because I've always liked you."

Kenshin slipped the photocopy in his pants pocket. "When do I meet him?"

"Tomorrow at six. Make a reservation at the Akabeko for three. Bring the woman." Finn shook his head as if to clear it. "Take me back now. I'm tired."

Kenshin nodded. He'd never intended to bring Finn in to jail, and now he couldn't, indebted as he was by whatever Finn had done for him.

Finn walked ahead of Kenshin out of the cover the filing cabinets provided. He was shot before either of them could react to the sudden outburst of noise at the entrance to the storage warehouse. Even as he watched Finn spin from the force of the shot and fall, Kenshin dropped to the ground and grabbed the other man by the wrists. Careful to stay undercover, Kenshin dragged Finn back behind the filing cabinets.

"I told you, Himura's got him! Don't shoot!" Saitou yelled, and that was when Kenshin knew someone had figured out what Saitou was doing and had stopped him from letting Finn get away alive. It wasn't police policy to shoot first and ask questions later.

Kenshin risked a glance around the side of the cabinet. There was only one way out, and it was currently blocked by a swat team. A bullet whizzed by his ear and he ducked back under cover.

"I told you idiots!" Saitou roared. "It's Himura!"

Kenshin heard him stomping through the fire zone, letting Kenshin know he was coming so he would have time to disarm Finn.

Finn groaned from beside him. He grabbed at Kenshin's shirt, but his grip was weak. Blood was pouring from a hole in his right shoulder.

"Don't tell them about the receipt," Kenshin said. "Do you have the original?"

"What?" Finn murmured, clutching weakly at his wounded shoulder.

"If it's as important as you say, you're dead if they find it in the files."

"No," Finn murmured. "Some kid stole it. Couldn't find out who he is… tried, but… screwed us all over."

Blood was smeared across his chest when Saitou found him, holding up Finn, who'd passed out.

"Step away from him," Saitou hissed. "As far as they know you're just a bounty hunter."

Kenshin shook his head. "They all need to see that I caught him first," he said, raising his voice as the first of the swat team came around the corner. "I want my money. You aren't going to screw me over because you shot my guy!"

"Just step away from the body, sir," the team member said. He'd barked the order, but he'd lowered his gun. Kenshin sat Finn on the floor and stood. They didn't ask question and he avoided Saitou because everyone thought they hated each other and it was better for Kenshin if they kept thinking that way. In the end, they took Finn away and a cop told Kenshin to wash up at the station, give his statement, and go home.

**---**

**---**

Kaoru was drifting off towards sleep by the time the sound of a key in the door woke her. Sano, sleeping on the couch, didn't stir. By the time she shoved her notes off her lap and got to the door Kenshin was already locking it behind him. The sounds of the perpetual party two doors over faded, but didn't disappear. The party had spilled into the hallway an hour ago.

"What happened?" Kaoru asked quietly. Kenshin was two hours later than he'd said he would be.

"Where's Sano?" he asked, turning to face her.

Kaoru looked closer at him. He'd never ignored the fact that she'd spoken before. "He's asleep on the couch."

Kenshin frowned. "He's supposed to be up."

"He was tired. It's no big deal," she said in Sano's defense, but she already knew Kenshin was going to talk to Sano about it later, probably (now that she'd said something) when she wasn't around.

"Are you free tomorrow night at six?"

Something was different about him. "No plans here," Kaoru said slowly. "Why?"

"You and I are meeting someone at the Akabeko," he said, pulling a piece of paper out of his coat pocket and handing it to her. "Don't mention this to Sano yet." It was a customer record of transactions at a gas station. Kaoru looked up at him and watched him take off his coat and hang it in the closet.

"What happened, Kenshin?"

He turned in her direction and for the first time she noticed that the shirt he wore now wasn't the same one he'd worn when he'd left. "I think we'd better wake Sano, and then we need to talk."


	9. The First They Heard

**A/N - If you've read Daedal Lives before, STOP HERE and go back to the beginning. I did a giganticly fantastic rewrite so this chapter will no longer make any sense.**

**Disclaimer - I don't own Rurouni Kenshin.**

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**9 -- _The First They Heard_**

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The next morning, a light knock sounded at her bedroom door. "Come in," Kaoru called from where she sat at her desk.

Kenshin walked in. "Are you going anywhere today?"

Kaoru turned around on her swivel chair to face him as he sat down at the foot of her bed. "Not until tonight. This last final kind of scares me, so I'm just going to study today."

He nodded. "I think you're safest here."

"What do you mean?"

"No one will try anything because there's always a witness around to see them coming and going."

Kaoru nodded. "So I guess the perpetual party guests are good for something."

"And the little kids," Kenshin added.

"Oh my gosh, I totally forgot!" Kaoru exclaimed. "Where'd I put it?"

"What?" Kenshin asked.

Kaoru swiveled back around to her desk. "I think I used it as a bookmark." She leafed through her papers, adding to the chaos, but there hadn't been much order there in the first place. She finally found it in a workbook and swiveled triumphantly back around to find Kenshin staring at her as if she'd gone crazy.

"When you were gone Tomoe came by," Kaoru explained, handing Kenshin the piece of paper with her number on it. "She was talking to one of the little girls when I opened the door – that's why I remembered when you mentioned little kids. Sorry I didn't tell you before. It slipped my mind."

Kenshin's faintly amused look faded as he looked down at the piece of paper. "Did she say why she was here?"

Kaoru shrugged, trying not to look too interested in his reactions. "She just said she wanted to see you, but she was leaving Baltimore. She'll be back for three months after the holidays are over."

"Thanks." Kenshin shoved the piece of paper in his pocket.

"I don't think you can put that in your pocket and forget about her," Kaoru observed idly. "This is the second time she came over. Aren't you going to call her?"

He shook his head. "I might go to see her work at the gallery, but I'm not going to call her."

"She's an artist?"

Kenshin nodded. "She got her bachelors a year ahead of me and went to art school in Europe. We grew apart, but I get the emails she sends out to friends sometimes."

Kaoru stood up and moved to sit next to him on the bed. "So she picked art over you, but now she's coming back a success with her work in a gallery. I bet she's going to try and get you back."

Kenshin frowned. "I doubt it."

"Well I'm the one who talked to her, and I think I'm right." From the tense look on his face, she knew she'd hit a cord he hadn't wanted her too. It was time to stop teasing him about Tomoe.

Kenshin stood up from the bed. "I'm going to Sano's. Stay here, okay?"

He was upset. Maybe not with her, but either way she'd been the cause. "Wait a minute, Kenshin." Kaoru stepped towards him and threw her arms around his neck.

"What are you doing?" he spluttered.

Kaoru hugged him as tightly as she could. "I never thanked you for coming back."

"Well don't do it by trying to crush me," he said a little harshly, which meant he wasn't upset anymore.

Kaoru loosened her hold and leaned her forehead on his shoulder. She felt him relax a little. "I shouldn't have teased you about Tomoe. I'm sorry, Kenshin."

He finally slid an arm around her waist and ran a hand through her hair. "You can tease me about anything you want, Kaoru."

Kaoru spoke into his shoulder. "If you'd walked out first they'd have shot you."

"I know."

When he didn't say anything else, Kaoru sighed. She couldn't accept it as easily has he could, but then that was Kenshin. He seemed to be able to adapt to any situation life threw at him. "Now I know why you're family hated you bounty hunting before."

He laughed a little and she felt it against her body.

"Soujiro thought it was cool."

"Soujiro's crazy." Kaoru smiled into his shirt. "Sano didn't like it either, did he?"

"No."

"I don't want you to risk your life for me again, Kenshin. If I'd known what you were doing, I wouldn't have let you go."

Kenshin tilted her head back from his shoulder and forced her to meet his eyes. "If you really mean that, I won't tell you if I have to do it again."

Kaoru wished she could yell at him, and well, she could, but that wouldn't change anything. And she wanted him to tell her everything. She didn't want secrets, but she didn't want his life on her hands either. Could he possibly know what he was asking of her? But in the end it was nothing. Nothing but what she would do for her father or for Yahiko. Nothing but what he would do for his family or for Sano, or apparently, for her.

"I want to know," she said, deciding, "what you do for me."

He smiled, and she realized that he was relieved. "Then I'll tell you everything you want to know."

Kaoru shook her head and closed her eyes. She didn't want him to sugarcoat anything. She needed to be an equal partner in this, for Okita, until it was over. "Just tell me everything, okay?"

She felt his fingers tilt her chin and then soft lips press against hers. She would have jerked back in surprise if he hadn't tilted his head at an angle so perfect that she was kissing him back before she knew it.

She pulled away for air and felt her cheeks heating already.

"I shouldn't have done that," Kenshin said, stepping back from her. "I should go to Sano's now. I'm late already."

Kaoru nodded, embarrassed. Her face felt like it was on fire. "Fine."

He opened his mouth. Closed it. Turned and left.

Kaoru sat back down on her bed and closed her eyes as she listened to the sound of his receding footsteps. She'd considered Kenshin a friend for a while now, but that word had never fully captured their relationship, and now she had no clue what they were, but she was positive that things between them were going to be awkward in the near future.

She liked him. Maybe she'd even wanted him to kiss her, but she'd never thought it would actually happen. Kaoru lay back on her bed. It was too much, especially on top of Okita, the scene in the cemetery, Kenshin almost getting shot just yesterday, and her last final.

She was beginning to think meeting Finn's mystery man tonight wouldn't solve anything. With their luck, it might only create more questions. Kenshin thought he had everything under control, but after last night he didn't dare contact Saitou. And Finn was shot, in custody, and no longer a good information source. If she hadn't seen someone in an unmarked cop car shooting at her, she would have convinced Kenshin to go to the cops long before now. If things didn't work out tonight, they'd have to go to Sano's cousin. Then there'd be no other person affiliated with the police department that they could trust. And then there was the fact that Kenshin had kissed her.

Kaoru sighed and sat up. When this final was over, maybe she'd be able to think clearly.

**---**

**---**

"It's so nice to see you, Kaoru," Tae said sweetly. "You should come around more often."

"It's good to see you too, Mrs. Hiko," Kaoru replied. "And Kenshin told me you're the one who taught him how to cook. Thank you."

Tae smiled and shot Kenshin a satisfied look. Kenshin fought the urge to groan. He should have known his aunt would assume Kaoru was his girlfriend. Neither he nor Soujiro had ever brought a girl to the restaurant before. His aunt was probably doing cartwheels inside. She was going to be confused when the guy Finn had called showed up.

"Kenshin is an excellent chef," Tae said to Kaoru. "He's also very organized, very clean, and very smart, as you've no doubt noticed."

Kaoru smiled at Tae. "I have." Kenshin only shook his head. The ride back to the apartment from the Akabeko in Federal Hill was going to be more awkward than the ride here. He still couldn't believe he'd messed up like that and kissed her.

"Well I've got to get back up front now, you two," Tae said, "Stop by before you leave."

"We will," Kenshin said as she left and they sat down again.

"I haven't been here since that party in the beginning of the year," Kaoru said. He thanked her internally for not mentioning his aunt's behavior. "It's a gorgeous restaurant, Kenshin."

He shrugged. "My aunt and uncle work hard on it. I'm just glad Soujiro's going to be taking over its management and not me."

"Are they planning on retiring soon?"

Kenshin shook his head and kept an eye on the door, of which he had a perfect view from his seat. "Not Aunt Tae, she loves it, but my uncle only does it for her. Soujiro is going to take over Uncle Hiko's duties when he gets his accounting degree. That's why he's going to night school."

"So does that mean Soujiro's here now?" Kaoru asked, taking a sip from her water glass.

Kenshin shook his head. "Yahiko's not the only one with a girlfriend. Don't tell Aunt Tae, but he's been dating the same girl for two years now. I think she's your age. Soujiro's always gone for older women."

"I'm not an older woman, Kenshin. And why can't I tell your aunt?"

Kenshin made a mental note never to use the words 'old' and 'Kaoru' in the same sentence. "He's never brought her to meet the parents. Aunt Tae's going to be pissed when she finds out, and I don't want Soujiro to blame me. He holds grudges."

"Good reason. Have you met her?"

"Yeah. She's alright. And I think we're both about to meet Finn's guy."

To give Kaoru credit, she didn't turn to look until the man sat down next to her.

"Himura," he said. "Your reputation precedes you."

"And you are?" Kenshin asked. The stranger was about five ten, with black hair, brown eyes, thin facial features, and a deep tan. Kenshin had never seen the man before in his life.

"My name is Shishio."

Kenshin took a closer look at the man. He'd heard of him years ago. Nothing specific, only that he was too ambitious. He doubted Shishio was more than a business partner of Finn's. Finn didn't care for ambition in others.

"This is Kaoru," Kenshin said. He watched as they nodded to each other. "Did you or Finn require that she came?"

Shishio shrugged and leaned back in his seat. "Must have been Finn."

"Are you two friends?" Kaoru asked.

Shishio laughed, a sound that was surprisingly unpleasant. "Hell no. The only thing we have in common is Sean."

"Sean?" Kaoru asked in confusion.

The smile left Shishio's face and he ignored Kenshin to stare at Kaoru. "If you don't know anything about Sean, this is a waste of my time."

"We know Sean was Finn's friend," Kenshin said quickly, taking a guess. "Finn said Sean was dead, but there's no body yet."

Shishio relaxed a little. "That's right. I've been looking. Sean's a family friend. Did Finn tell you anything else?"

"Finn left it up to you," Kenshin said slowly. It was important that Shishio thought he had every advantage possible. "He didn't even tell us Sean's last name."

Shishio smirked. "Sounds like Finn. So he gave you a copy of the credit record and left huh? Was it a copy of the original or the doctored version?"

"You mean you know what name goes in the blank?" Kaoru broke in.

"I haven't seen it," Shishio snapped. "Sean didn't tell me. He said he didn't want me to know too much. I thought it was just him being paranoid again, when he said he thought the cops were trying to kill him."

"What did he see?" Kaoru asked, eyes wide and focused on Shishio.

Shishio shook his head. "This is supposed to be a mutual relationship. I'm not giving you anymore free information. Why did Finn have both of you meet me here?"

"Because he thought the same people who killed Sean are after us," Kenshin said. "Unfortunately, Finn didn't tell me who those people are." Which he'd done on purpose, Kenshin thought, remembering watching Finn smoke and stare at him.

Shishio nodded. "Finn's the only one besides Sean who saw the original. How are you two going to help me? I can think of several uses for you, Himura, but not for the girl."

Kaoru looked indignant, but Kenshin cut her off before she could say anything. "Kaoru has cop contacts at the precinct where Okita worked."

Shishio shrugged. "Who's Okita?"

Damn. He'd thought Shishio would know Okita. Kenshin took drink of water to stall for time while he thought up something that wouldn't give away too much information to Shishio. He didn't like the man.

"He was trying to help Sean Briggs," Kaoru said slowly. "The night he was murdered he mentioned that he was working on a private case that was taking up more of his time than he'd thought. I bet it was helping Sean. He probably confronted the dirty cops that night, but they killed him."

"So he'd seen the original version," Kenshin said slowly. "Maybe he even had a copy of it."

Shishio was sitting up straight now. "So all I have to do is break into his house and find it, and then I can take care of customer number seventy-nine."

"You can't just break into Okita's house!" Kaoru hissed. "Besides, I think he had a roommate!"

Shishio stood from the table. "If you don't figure out who's trying to kill you, you're going to end up like Sean. Thank you, Himura. This has been a profitable night for me."

Kenshin leaned back in his seat and watched Shishio until he walked out of the restaurant. Then he turned his attention to Kaoru, who was glaring at him and drumming her fingers on the table.

"You let him walk away!" she accused.

Kenshin shook his head. "Come and sit next to me."

She muttered something under her breath, but walked around the side of the table to sit next to him. "Well?"

"Okita destroyed that paper."

"How do you know that for sure?"

"He was trying to save Sean Briggs, not arrest anyone. The only way to do that was to destroy the record. Even if he didn't destroy it, there's no way it's in his house. That would put his roommate in danger." Kenshin watched as Kaoru considered what he'd said. He could read the moment on her face when she decided she believed his reasoning.

"Then what are we going to do?"

"Warn Okita's roommate, do some research on Sean Briggs, and wait for Shishio to contact us again."

Kaoru nodded. "Then you think Shishio might know where another copy of the original is?"

"There's still Finn's copy," Kenshin reminded her. "We might be able to find it if it wasn't in the storage warehouse." Which was very optimistic, almost unreasonably so, but he didn't want to tell Kaoru that. Either Finn's copy no longer existed, or someone had it – someone who either hid very well, or had a lot of firepower. That had to be the reason why Shishio was so eager to find Okita's copy of the original document.

"That's a big if," Kaoru said doubtfully. "Are you sure Finn won't just tell you?"

"There's no way they'd let me in to see him. And even if I did get an audience, they'd be recording it and there's no way he'd tell me anything. They wouldn't let him live if they knew for sure that he knew the name."

Kaoru bit her lip. "You're right. It doesn't look like I'm going home for Christmas vacation, does it?"


End file.
